Eric Hoffer
American social philosopher and longshoreman
Eric Hoffer was an American philosopher and social critic who spent much of his life working as a longshoreman. His first book, The True Believer, looks at fanaticism and mass movements.
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American Born 1902 in New York City, United States Died 1983
About Eric Hoffer
Eric Hoffer was born in the Bronx, New York City, and died in 1983. He had no formal schooling and was nearly blind until about the age of fifteen. When his sight returned, he began reading hungrily, in both English and German, and kept the habit for life. As a young man he headed to California, where he worked as a migrant laborer and a gold-miner while continuing to read and write. He later settled in San Francisco as a longshoreman, writing alongside his dock work until he retired at 65. The True Believer, published in 1951, was his first book and is widely regarded as a classic. In 1983 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. A literary prize at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Eric Hoffer Book Award are both named for him.